Italian composer and pianist Alessio Bax. Winner of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant for 2009, Alessio Bax is praised internationally for his lyrical playing and insightful interpretations. At the age of 19 he won the First Prize at the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan, and was First Prize winner in the universally acknowledged Leeds International Pianoforte Competition in 2000. Acclaimed by the international press, his performances have been described as 'real music-making that makes its own world on stage and invites the audience in as guests' (The Independent), and 'successfully combining authority and poetry' (Daily Telegraph).